Free Wolf by Cara Carnes

my blood freeze. I backed up, but said nothing.
    “You cry for him?” He choked on the words as he moved closer, but I held my ground. “At least I didn’t run like you. I buried him. My own son.”
    “I’m sorry, Father.”
    “You are sorry. Sorrier than I’d imagined. You know what it was like for me to return to the village and find out from the few who lived that you ran? You ran and didn’t even bother to come back and deal with your own mother.” His anger boomed through the room. “I had to bury her myself. Her corpse was days old. I should make you dig her back up and dig another hole yourself. After all she’d done for her worthless daughter, you turn and prove I was right all along.”
    I allowed his rage to boil and fester into the angry wounds I’d numbed to long ago. Tears slid down my cheeks, but I allowed them to, knowing he enjoyed seeing my regret and self-loathing run unhindered like fresh blood. “She made me promise to run as soon as I could. I swore.”
    “Of course you swore. You worthless slut.” His voice made me jump, but I remained calm, determined to hide the fear trickling to life within me. Would Stephan pick up on my emotions?
    I focused on him and what he made me feel. War was upon us, yet I felt safer within Stephan’s world and his embrace than any other time I could remember. My father glared into my eyes.
    “Are you even listening to me?”
    “Of course, Father.”
    He sneered. “Have you been acting like a slut with one of these men?”
    I shook my head. “Of course not, Father.”
    “You better be telling me the truth.”
    I was. I might’ve surrendered to my desire for Stephan, but I was by no means a slut. “I’m sure the king has quarters within the private area for you.”
    “He’d better. It’s the least he can do for dragging us here with all of them .” His hatred and scorn were etched within his words, and my blood ran cold.
    “Will you have the village men march beside him against the enemy?”
    He looked at me. “We march on the enemy in the morning, but my wound keeps me from being there. I’d love to see their faces.”
    A stain coated his tunic. “We should have Nalla take a look at that, Father. She is a skilled healer.”
    “I don’t need any of their help.” He bit his lip. “I’ll be fine. Show me where I sleep and then work on getting me some food.”

    My father was placed in the room across from Fallon’s and shared a wall with Stephan’s. My body hummed with the need to spend time with Stephan, but that was not destined to happen until after the battle.
    My father’s hateful glare never left me, leaving me no time to spend with Stephan before he and the alphas moved to engage in war. I longed to be at his side. I prayed he heard my thoughts and knew my desires before he left. Surely he could still read my mind.
    The morning dawn splayed through the glade and into the small window of my father’s room as I made my way in. I smiled, my nerves rattling like the dishes on the platter I carried to him. The smile he gave me back made my skin crawl with concern, but perhaps I’d been too skeptical of him.
    “Nalla offered to tend your wound if you’d like.”
    “I want none of their kind around me. They’re evil incarnate.”
    My gasp echoed through the room. I set the tray down, afraid I’d drop it from the shock filling me. “They saved my life.”
    “Ironic that their trust in you will be their downfall. Without it I would’ve never found this place.” His laugh made my heart stop as my mind raced to comprehend what he’d said.
    “What are you saying?”
    He sneered. “You always were stupid, like your mother.”
    “Don’t ever speak of her that way.”
    My face stung with his slap. I spat in his face, and he drew back to hit me again. I braced myself for the blow, but it never came. Behind him, an enraged Fallon dragged himself into the room. His body shook from the effort he’d expended to make his way to me.
    My